PUCON, Chile — One of South America’s most active volcanoes erupted early Tuesday in southern Chile, spewing heavy smoke into the air as lava surged down its slopes, prompting authorities to evacuate thousands of people.

The Villarrica volcano erupted around 3 a.m. local time, according to the National Emergency Office, which issued a red alert and ordered evacuations. Local media showed images of the volcano bursting at the top, glowing in the dark amid heavy smoke and rivers of lava. Authorities worried that mudslides caused by melting snow could endanger nearby communities.

The 2,847-metre volcano in Chile’s central valley, 670 kilometres south of Santiago, sits above the small city of Pucon, which has a population of about 22,000 people.

“It was the most amazing thing I’ve ever seen,” 29-year-old Australian tourist Travis Armstrong said in a telephone interview from Pucon. “I’ve never seen a volcano erupt and it was spewing lava and ash hundreds of metres into the air. Lightning was striking down at the volcano from the ash cloud that formed from the eruption.”

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Chilean authorities had issued an orange alert on Monday because of increased activity at the volcano. About 3,500 people have been evacuated so far, including tourists, said Interior and Security Minister Rodrigo Penailillo.

Penailillo warned that the eruption was causing numerous rivers in the area to rise as snow along the sides of the volcano began melting. Villarrica is covered by a glacier cap covering some 40 square kilometres and snow from about 1,500 metres on up.

Authorities were keeping an eye on four nearby communities that could be endangered by mudslides as the snow melts.

Jose Manuel Reyes, the 37-year-old manager of La Bicicleta hostal in downtown Pucon, said visitors from France, Canada, Australian, South Africa and Brazil watched the early morning eruption from the building’s terrace.

“We’re still a bit nervous because we don’t know what’s happening,” said Reyes. “There was nervousness, but we haven’t seen any panic.”

Tourists flock to the area around Villarrica for outdoor activities like kayaking, horseback riding, fishing and hiking around the volcano, which last had a major eruption in 1984. Dozens of tourists were among those evacuated.

President Michelle Bachelet announced that she will travel to areas near the volcano later Tuesday to check on safety preparations and asked residents to remain calm.

The Villarrica has a crater of about 200 metres in diameter and a lake of lava about 150 metres deep. It has periodic eruptions every 10 or 15 years.

Chile has more than 2,000 volcanoes in the Andes cordillera and about 90 of them remain active. Villarrica is considered among the country’s most dangerous.

FRANCISCO NEGRONI/AFP/Getty ImagesThe Volcano Villarrica in southern Chile which began erupting on March 3, 2015.

CARLOS ROCUANT/AFP/Getty ImagesPicture released by Atonchile showing the Villarrica volcano, 1200 km from Santiago, in southern Chile which began erupting on March 3, 2015 forcing the evacuation of some 3,000 people in nearby villages. The Villarrica volcano, one of Chile's most active, began erupting around 3:00 am (0600 GMT), prompting authorities to declare a red alert and cancel classes in schools, the National Emergency Office said.

CARLOS ROCUANT/AFP/Getty ImagesPicture released by Atonchile showing the Villarrica volcano, 1200 km from Santiago, in southern Chile which began erupting on March 3, 2015.

FRANCISCO NEGRONI/AFP/Getty ImagesView of the Volcano Villarrica in southern Chile which began erupting on March 03, 2015 forcing the evacuation of some 3,000 people in nearby villages, the government said.

PAHOA, Hawaii — Lava is expected to slither past properties across the street from Jeff and Denise Lagrimas’ home on Hawaii’s Big Island as it works its way to the ocean.

But they are packing up to leave for a town 23 kilometres away, so they won’t know whether that prediction comes true or whether the molten rock oozes into their home instead.

“I don’t want to stick around and just wait for it to come and take it,” Denise Lagrimas said while taking a break from loading kitchen cups and bowls in cardboard boxes. “You just never know.”

AP Photo/Audrey McAvoyDenise Lagrimas, right, and her brother Beatle Rodriguez pack dishes at their home in Pahoa, Hawaii on Tuesday, Oct.

The lava was about 255 metres from the main road in Pahoa, the commercial centre of Puna, a sprawling, mostly agricultural district on the Big Island, civil defence officials in Hawaii County said Wednesday.

The flow from Kilauea volcano entered private property next to the main road and was burning tires and other materials, prompting authorities to warn downwind residents with respiratory problems to stay indoors. The lava was edging forward at about 10 metres per hour and slowed early Wednesday to about 5 metres per hour, the Hawaiian Volcano Observatory said.

AP Photo/U.S. Geological SurveyThis Oct. 27, 2014 photo provided by the U.S. Geological Survey shows the lava flow from Kilauea Volcano that began on June 27 with Apa?a St., pictured at bottom, and Pahoa Village Road at upper left near the town of Pahoa on the Big Island of Hawaii. Residents of the small town have had weeks to prepare for what's been described as a slow-motion disaster. County officials are making arrangements for those living in the lava's path to be able to watch the lava destroy their homes as a means of closure. ()

It burned down an empty shed Tuesday.

The molten stream picked up speed last week after weeks of slow, stop-and-go movement. It broke out of forest and pastureland and crossed into inhabited areas for the first time since scientists began warning about lava in August.

Pahoa residents have had weeks to prepare for what’s been described as a slow-motion disaster. Most have either already left or are prepared to go.

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At least 50 or 60 structures — including homes and businesses — are in an area that officials warn will likely be hit.

Josiah Hunt, who has farm in a part of Puna that was not immediately threatened, described smelling burning grass, feeling warmth from the lava and hearing “popping and sizzling and all the methane bursts that are happening in the distance … mixed with the birds chirping and the coqui frogs.”

With the flow threatening, the Lagrimas family decided to move to Kurtistown, a safe distance away.

AP Photo/U.S. Geological SurveyThis pair of images released Oct. 22, 2014 by the U.S. Geological Survey shows a comparison of a normal photograph of the lava flow front, left, with a thermal image of the flow that is threatening the town of Pahoa on the Big Island of Hawaii.

“We didn’t want to go anywhere where it’s close enough where we would have to evacuate again,” Denise Lagrimas said.

They also worried the lava will block roads leading out of Pahoa and prevent them from commuting to their jobs in the coastal town of Hilo to the north. Then there was the prospect of subsequent flows gradually swallowing more of the community, which is what happened to the Royal Garden and Kalapana subdivisions in the 1980s and 1990s.

“It’s so surreal, it’s so surreal. Never in my wildest dreams as a kid growing up did I think I would be running from lava,” Denise Lagrimas said.

Some people want to watch the lava destroy their homes as a way to cope with the loss.

“You can only imagine the frustration as well as … despair they’re going through,” Hawaii County Civil Defense Director Darryl Oliveira said.

AP Photo/U.S. Geological SurveyThis Oct. 26, 2014 photo provided by the U.S. Geological Survey a Hawaii Volcano Observatory geologist mapping the margin of the June 27 lava flow in the open field below Cemetery Road near the town of Pahoa on the Big Island of Hawaii.

Hunt watched last week as the lava crept toward Pahoa and spotted a woman whose house is near its path put a lei at the front of the flow.

“It helps a person come to grips with the reality of the situation,” he said. “I found it to be oddly comforting in a really strange way.”

Terri Mulroy, who runs Kumu Aina Farm with her husband, said the lava, while unnerving, has a cleansing quality to it because it keeps development on the lush Hawaiian island in check.

“If it wasn’t for the flow, I wouldn’t be able to live here,” she said. “This land would have been a golf course for the rich.”

The Earth seems to have been smoking a lot recently. Volcanoes are erupting in Iceland, Hawaii, Indonesia, Ecuador and Mexico right now. Others, in the Philippines and Papua New Guinea, erupted recently but seem to have calmed down. Many of these have threatened homes and forced evacuations. But among their spectators, these eruptions raise question: Is there such a thing as a season for volcanic eruptions?

While volcanoes may not have “seasons” as we know them, scientists have started to discern intriguing patterns in their activity.

The four seasons are caused by the Earth’s axis of rotation tilting toward and away from the sun. But our planet undergoes another, less well-known change, which affects it in a more subtle way, perhaps even volcanically.

Due to factors like the gravitational pull of the sun and moon, the speed at which the Earth rotates constantly changes. Accordingly the length of a day actually varies from year to year. The difference is only in the order of milliseconds. But new research suggests that this seemingly small perturbation could bring about significant changes on our planet — or more accurately, within it.

A study published in the journal Terra Nova in February showed that, since the early 19th century, changes in the Earth’s rotation rate tended to be followed by increases in global volcanic activity. It found that, between 1830 and 2013, the longest period for which a reliable record was available, relatively large changes in rotation rate were immediately followed by an increase in the number of large volcanic eruptions. And, more than merely being correlated, the authors believe that the rotation changes might actually have triggered these large eruptions.

Chris McGrath/Getty ImagesThe volcano on Mount Ontake erupts September 29, 2014 in the air over Mount Ontake, Japan.

Altering the spin of a planet, even by a small amount, requires a huge amount of energy. It has been estimated that changes in the Earth’s rotation rate dissipate around 120,000 petajoules of energy each year — enough to power the United States for the same length of time. This energy is transferred into the Earth’s atmosphere and subsurface. And it is this second consequence that the Terra Nova authors believe could affect volcanoes.

The vast quantities of energy delivered to the subsurface by rotation changes are likely to perturb its stress field. And, since the magma that feeds volcanic eruptions resides in the Earth’s crust, stress variations there may make it easier for the liquid rock to rise to the surface, and thereby increase the rate of volcanic eruptions.

The Terra Nova study is far from conclusive. Nevertheless, the idea that minute changes to the Earth’s spin could affect volcanic motions deep within the planet is intriguing.

But there’s another natural phenomenon that has a much stronger claim to affecting volcanic activity: climate change.

BERNARD MERIC/AFP/Getty ImagesAn aerial picture taken on September 14, 2014 shows a plane flying over the Bardarbunga volcano spewing lava and smoke in southeast Iceland.

Eruptions caused by climate change

In recent decades, it has become apparent that the consequences of planetary ice loss might not end with rising sea levels. Evidence has been building that in the past, periods of severe loss of glaciers were followed by a significant spike in volcanic activity.

Around 19,000 years ago, glaciation was at a peak. Much of Europe and North America was under ice. Then the climate warmed, and the glaciers began to recede. The effect on the planet was generally quite favourable for humankind. But, since the mid-1970s, a number of studies have suggested that, as the ice vanished, volcanic eruptions became much more frequent. A 2009 study, for example, concluded that between 12,000 and 7,000 years ago, the global level of volcanic activity rose by up to six times. Around the same period the rate of volcanic activity in Iceland soared to at least 30 times today’s level.

There is supporting evidence from continental Europe, North America and Antarctica that volcanic activity also increased after earlier deglaciation cycles. Bizarrely, then, volcanic activity seems — at least sometimes — to rise and fall with ice levels. But why? Again, this strange effect might come down to stress.

AP Photo/U.S. Geological SurveyThis Sept. 17, 2014 photo provided by the U.S. Geological Survey shows an active lava lake inside a crater at the summit of the Kilauea volcano in Pahoa, Hawaii. The volcano’s slow-moving lava has reached a vacant lot in a rural subdivision but it’s expected to bypass homes.

Eruptions cause by the melting of ice

Ice sheets are heavy. Each year, Antarctica’s loses around 40 billion metric tons of ice. The sheets are so heavy, in fact, that as they grow, they cause the Earth’s crust to bend — like a plank of wood when placed under weight. The corollary of this is that, when an ice sheet melts, and its mass is removed, the crust springs back. This upward flexing can lead to a drop in stress in the underlying rocks, which, the theory goes, makes it easier for magma to reach the surface and feed volcanic eruptions.

The link between climate change and volcanism is still poorly understood. Many volcanoes do not seem to have been affected by it. Nor is it a particularly pressing concern today, even though we face an ice-free future. It can take thousands of years after the glaciers melt for volcanic activity to rise.

Yet while it may not be an immediate hazard, this strange effect is a reminder that our planet can respond to change in unforeseen ways. Contrary to their brutish reputation, volcanoes are helping scientists understand just how sensitive our planet can be.

Wylie is a PhD researcher in volcanology at University College London.

Five more bodies were found near the summit of a Japanese volcano on Monday, bringing the total presumed dead to 36, police said, as toxic gases and ash from the still-erupting mountain forced rescue workers to halt efforts to recover the victims.

AP Photo/Kyodo NewsFirefighters and members of Japan's Self-Defense Forces conduct a rescue operation near the peak of Mount Ontake as plumes of smoke billow in central Japan, Sunday, Sept. 28, 2014.

Eight more bodies were airlifted off Mount Ontake before work on the ash-blanketed peak was called off around 1:30 p.m., said Naofumi Miyairi, a spokesman for the Nagano prefecture police.

Together with four victims brought down on Sunday, 12 bodies have now been recovered, leaving 24 near the summit. Exactly how they died remains unclear, though experts say it could be from suffocating ash, falling rocks, toxic gases or some combination of them. Some of the bodies had severe contusions.

Police said the latest victims were found near a shrine at the summit, the same area where other victims were reportedly found.

Japanese TV network TBS showed soldiers carrying yellow body bags to a military helicopter that had landed in a relatively wide-open area of the now bleak landscape, its rotors still spinning.

More than 200 soldiers and firefighters, including units with gas detection equipment, were part of the search mission near the peak, said Katsunori Morimoto, an official in the village of Otaki.

The effort was halted because of an increase in toxic gas and ash as the volcano continued to spew fumes, he said.

“It sounds like there is enormous ash fall up there,” he said.

The rescuers reported a strong smell of sulfur, Morimoto said.

Saturday’s eruption was the first fatal one in modern times at the 3,067-metre mountain, a popular climbing destination 210 kilometres west of Tokyo. An eruption occurred in 1979, but no one died.

The mountain erupted shortly before noon at perhaps the worst possible time, with at least 250 people taking advantage of a beautiful fall Saturday to go for a hike. The blast spewed large white plumes of gas and ash high into the sky, blotted out the midday sun and blanketed the surrounding area in ash.

Hundreds were initially trapped on the slopes, though most made their way down by Saturday night.

About 40 people who were stranded overnight came down on Sunday. Many were injured, and some had to be rescued by helicopters or carried down on stretchers.

Japan’s Fire and Disaster Management Agency said 59 people had been injured, including 27 seriously. It was trying to determine if any people were still missing.

AFP/Getty ImagesA helicopter of Japan's Self Defence Force lifts a survivor from volcanic ash covered top of Mount Ontake at Nagano prefecture, one day after Japan's volcano Ontake erupted in central Japan.

AFP/Getty ImagesTOPSHOTS This aerial picture taken on September 28, 2014 shows rescue workers and Self Defence Force soldiers searching for missing climbers and survivors among ash covered mountain cottages and a Shinto shrine (above) on the top of Mount Ontake at Nagano prefecture, one day after Japan's volcano Ontake erupted in central Japan, which straddling Nagano and Gifu prefecture. Rescuers rushed to help dozens of hikers stranded on an erupting volcano in central Japan with six people believed to be buried under ash and dozens injured. AFP PHOTO / JIJI PRESS JAPAN OUTJIJI/AFP/Getty Images

KAZUHIRO NOGI/AFP/Getty ImagesFire department vehicles enter a road leading to the mountain trail of Mount Ontake in Nagano prefecture on Sept. 28, 2014.

AP Photo/Kyodo NewsPlumes of smoke and ash billow from Mount Ontake as it continues to erupt in central Japan, Sunday, Sept. 28, 2014. Mount Ontake in central Japan erupted shortly before noon Saturday, spewing large white plumes of gas and ash high into the sky and blanketing the surrounding area in ash. An estimated 40 people were stranded at mountain lodges overnight, many injured and unable or unwilling to risk descending 3,067-metre Mount Ontake on their own.

LONDON — Experts say the seismic activity near the Bardarbunga volcano on Iceland is calming down while tall fountains of fire and lava continue to lick the air along a volcanic fissure, producing a huge plume of steam and gas.

A massive white cloud some 4.5 kilometres tall was rising above the fissure eruption in the Holuhraun lava field north of the Dyngjujoekull glacier on Tuesday. No ash fall has been detected.

Iceland’s meteorological agency said the lava eruption appears to be less active. It said the number of earthquakes in the area fell to 300 on Tuesday, compared to 500 the previous day.

AP Photo/Stefano Di NicoloIn this aerial view, smoke and lava rise from a fissure in the ground on the north side of the Bardarbunga volcano in Iceland, Tuesday, Sept. 2, 2014.

Thousands of small earthquakes have rocked the region in recent days, leading to concerns that Bardarbunga, which lies under a vast glacier, could erupt.

Authorities said lava fountains of about 50 metres high erupted Sunday from the fissure, estimated to be almost a 1.6 kms long.

AP Photo/Stefano Di NicoloIn this aerial view, fountains of lava, up to 60 meters high, spurt from a fissure in the ground on the north side of the Bardarbunga volcano in Iceland, Tuesday, Sept. 2, 2014.

The fissure eruption appeared about 40 kilometres from the main Bardarbunga volcano, which lies under the vast Vatnajokull glacier that dominates the eastern corner of Iceland.

Though remote and sparsely populated, the area is popular with hikers in the summer. Officials earlier evacuated all tourists in the region after intense seismic activity there.

AFP PHOTO / HO / ARMANN HOSKULDSSON UNIVERSITY OF ICELANDLava flows from cracks in the ground after the Bardabunga volcano erupted again in the early hours on August 31, 2014.

Although Sunday’s fissure eruption was more powerful than the one on Friday, experts say the situation is contained and is unlikely to result in the same level of aviation chaos as 2010. In April that year, an eruption at the Eyjafjallajokull volcano wreaked havoc on millions of travellers. More than 100,000 flights were cancelled after officials closed Europe’s air space for five days out of fear that volcanic ash could damage jet engines.

AP Photo/Stefano Di NicoloIn this aerial view, fountains of lava, up to 60 meters high, spurt from a fissure in the ground on the north side of the Bardarbunga volcano in Iceland, Tuesday, Sept. 2, 2014.

Dave McGarvie, a volcanologist at Britain’s Open University, said the fissure eruptions produce only very small amounts of ash — they produce mostly lava — and are highly unlikely to cause any aviation disruption.

“It’s good news in the sense that it appears to be very small, very contained. It’s not spreading under the glacier — if it did you’ll get a lot of flooding,” he said.

He said Icelandic authorities are mostly concerned that the main volcano under the ice cap will erupt, but there are no signs so far that this is imminent.

AP Photo/Stefano Di NicoloIn this aerial view, fountains of lava, up to 60 meters high, spurt from a fissure in the ground on the north side of the Bardarbunga volcano in Iceland, Tuesday, Sept. 2, 2014.

AP Photo/Stefano Di NicoloIn this aerial view, fountains of lava, up to 60 meters high, spurt from a fissure in the ground on the north side of the Bardarbunga volcano in Iceland, Tuesday, Sept. 2, 2014.

AP Photo/Stefano Di NicoloIn this aerial view, fountains of lava, up to 60 meters high, spurt from a fissure in the ground on the north side of the Bardarbunga volcano in Iceland, Tuesday, Sept. 2, 2014.

AP Photo/Eggert JohannessonA close up of lava from an eruption on Holuhraun, northwest of the Dyngjujoekull glacier in Iceland, Monday, Sept. 1, 2014.

AP Photo/Eggert JohannessonA man stands near to a lava eruption on Holuhraun, northwest of the Dyngjujoekull glacier in Iceland, Monday, Sept. 1, 2014.

AP Photo/Eggert JohannessonThe sky over the site of a lava eruption on Holuhraun, northwest of the Dyngjujoekull glacier in Iceland, Monday, Sept. 1, 2014.

SUGIHWARAS, Indonesia — An explosive volcanic eruption on Indonesia’s most populous island blasted ash and debris 18 kilometres into the air Friday, killing two people while forcing authorities to evacuate more than 100,000 and close six airports.

The overnight eruption of Java island’s Mount Kelud could be heard up to 200 kilometres away, Indonesia’s disaster agency said.

“The eruption sounded like thousands of bombs exploding,” Ratno Pramono, a 35-year-old farmer, said after returning from an evacuation centre to check on his property in the village of Sugihwaras, around five kilometres from the crater. “I thought doomsday was upon us. Women and children were screaming and crying.”

Ash and grit fell to earth in towns and cities across the region, including Surabaya, Indonesia’s second-largest city after Jakarta, with a population of about 3 million. It also fell even farther afield in Yogyakarta, where motorists switched on headlights in daylight, and lay five centimetres (two inches) deep in some places.

A 60-year-old man and a 65-year-old woman were killed in the village of Pandansari near the mountain when the roofs of their homes collapsed under the weight of the ash and volcanic debris unleashed during the eruption, the disaster agency said.

The large international airport in Surabaya and airports in the cities of Yogyakarta, Solo, Bandung, Semarang and Cilacap were closed due to reduced visibility and the dangers posed to aircraft engines by ash, Transport Ministry spokesman Bambang Ervan said. Virgin Australia said it had cancelled its Friday flights from Australia to several locations due to the eruption, including the resort islands of Bali in Indonesia and Phuket in Thailand.

AFP PHOTO AFP/AFP/Getty ImagesVolcanic ash covers a plane and the airport of Solo in Central Java about 150 kilometers (93 miles) west of Mount Kelud volcano on February 14, 2014. Two people have been crushed to death after a volcanic eruption blanketed rooftops with rocks and ash, causing homes to cave in, an official said on February 14.

The disaster agency said tremors were still wracking the volcano, but that scientists didn’t expect another major eruption. It said all villages within 10 kilometres of Kelud — more than 100,000 people — had been evacuated to temporary shelters, but that some villagers were returning to their homes to begin cleaning up.

The 1,731-meter-high Mount Kelud in eastern Java — Indonesia’s most densely populated island and home to more than half of the country’s 240 million people — has been rumbling for several weeks and was under close observation. The mountain is about 600 kilometres east of Jakarta, the capital.

Muhammad Hendrasto, head of Indonesia’s volcano monitoring agency, said the mountain erupted violently about 90 minutes after authorities raised its alert status to the highest level. The disaster agency said it had spewed millions of cubic meters of debris into the atmosphere.

EPA/BIMO SATRIO Buddha statues are covered with volcanic ash from the Mount Kelud volcano eruption at a shop in Magelang, Central Java, Indonesia, 14 February 2014. Three international airports on Indonesia's main Java Island were closed on 14 February following the eruption of the Mount Kelud volcano, an official said. Thousands of people fled their homes after Mount Kelud erupted, sending hot ash and rocks over 3,000 m into the air on 13 February night.

Kediri, a normally bustling town about 30 kilometres from the mountain, was largely deserted as residents stayed indoors to avoid the choking ash.

“The smell of sulfur and ash hung so thickly in the air that breathing was painful,” said Kediri resident Insaf Wibowo.

Some residents were shovelling the ash and grit into sacks to use for the construction of buildings or to fertilize crops. One collector said that middlemen had already told him they would pay up to $56 for a small truck filled with the debris.

Kelud is among about 130 active volcanoes in Indonesia. The archipelagic nation is prone to volcanic eruptions and earthquakes because of its location on the so-called “Ring of Fire” — a series of fault lines stretching from the Western Hemisphere through Japan and Southeast Asia.

AFP PHOTO / JUNI KRISWANTOJUNI KRISWANTO/AFP/Getty ImagesResidents watch the eruption of Mount Kelud volcano from Kediri town in East Java province on February 14, 2014. Two people have been crushed to death after a volcanic eruption blanketed rooftops with rocks and ash, causing homes to cave in, an official said on February 14.

Due to the fertile volcanic soil and the shortage of space on Java, hundreds of thousands of people live close to active volcanoes. They are used to the rumblings, but their proximity to the peaks presents difficulties for authorities.
Kelud’s last major eruption was in 1990, when it kicked out searing fumes and lava that killed more than 30 people and injured hundreds. In 1919, a powerful explosion that reportedly could be heard hundreds of kilometres away killed at least 5,160 people.

Earlier this month, Mount Sinabung in North Sumatra province erupted as authorities were allowing thousands of villagers who had been evacuated to return to its slopes, killing 16 people. Sinabung has been erupting for four months, forcing the evacuation of more than 30,000 people.

]]>http://news.nationalpost.com//explosive-volcanic-eruption-in-indonesia-kills-two-forces-100000-to-evacuate-shuts-6-airports/feed/0stdMount Kelud erupts, as seen from Anyar village in Blitar, East Java, Indonesia, Friday, Feb. 14, 2014. Volcanic ash from the major eruption in Indonesia shrouded a large swath of the country's most densely populated island on Friday, closed three international airports and sent thousands fleeing.FO0215_IndonesiaVolcano_C_JRAFP PHOTO AFP/AFP/Getty ImagesEPA/BIMO SATRIO AFP PHOTO / JUNI KRISWANTOJUNI KRISWANTO/AFP/Getty ImagesMassive volcanic eruption kills at least 16 people as toxic clouds hamper rescue efforts in Indonesiahttp://news.nationalpost.com//massive-eruption-from-2600-meter-volcano-in-indonesia-kills-at-least-16-people-as-toxic-clouds-hamper-rescue-efforts
http://news.nationalpost.com//massive-eruption-from-2600-meter-volcano-in-indonesia-kills-at-least-16-people-as-toxic-clouds-hamper-rescue-efforts#commentsMon, 03 Feb 2014 05:39:08 +0000http://news.nationalpost.com/?p=422549

The death toll from an Indonesian volcano that has been rumbling for months rose to 16 Sunday after rescuers found another charred corpse and a critically injured college student died in a hospital, officials said.

Mount Sinabung erupted again Saturday just a day after authorities allowed thousands of villagers who had been evacuated to return to its slopes, saying volcanic activity was decreasing. Rescuers found 14 bodies and rescued three people with burn wounds, said National Disaster Mitigation Agency spokesman Sutopo Purwo Nugroho. The eruption spread toxic clouds of hot ash that hampered search and rescue teams, officials said.

EPA/DEDY SAHPUTRA Indonesian policemen sit on an utility vehicle as they search for victims of Mount Sinabung eruption in Karo, North Sumatra, Indonesia, Feb. 2, 2014.

“No one is reported missing, but we don’t know for sure,” a spokesman said. “Sometimes people can come and go to check on their homes. We will try to search again, but we have to wait until the situation is clear, given the hot clouds.”

Local television reports during the weekend showed giant gray clouds cloaking Mount Sinabung’s crater, and farms and roads around the volcano covered in ash.

Rescue efforts resumed Sunday and rescuers found another body about three kilometres from the volcano’s peak, said Lt. Col. Asep Sukarna, who led the operation. Another resident, a 24-year-old college student died in an intensive care unit, said an official at the Efarina Etaham hospital.

Among the dead were a local television journalist and four high-school students and their teacher who were visiting the mountain to see the eruptions up close, Nugroho said. At least three other people were injured and authorities fear the death toll will rise.

ATAR/AFP/Getty ImagesIndonesian rescuers enter an abandoned village as they search for victims around the ash-covered danger zone from Mount Sinabung volcano in Karo district on Feb. 2, 2014.

Sinabung in western Sumatra has been erupting for four months. Authorities had evacuated more than 30,000 people, housing them in cramped tents, schools and public buildings, but many were desperate to return to check on homes and farms.

On Friday, authorities allowed nearly 14,000 people living outside a five-kilometre danger zone to return after believing volcanic activity had decreased. Others living close to the peak have been returning to their homes over the past four months despite the dangers.

ADEK BERRY/AFP/Getty ImagesVillagers have dinner at a temporary shelter in Karo on Feb. 2, 2014 as they left their homes following Sinabung eruptions.

On Saturday, a series of huge blasts and eruptions thundered from the 2,600-meter volcano. Television footage showed villages, farms and trees covered in thick grey ash.

Indonesia is prone to seismic upheaval due to its location on the Pacific “Ring of Fire,” an arc of volcanoes and fault lines encircling the Pacific Basin. Mount Sinabung is among about 130 active volcanoes in Indonesia and has sporadically erupted since September.

Ulet Ifansasti/Getty ImagesRelatives pray during the burial of a victim that was killed after being hit by pyroclastic smoke from the eruption of Mount Sinabung on Feb. 02, 2014 in Suka village, Karo District, North Sumatra, Indonesia.

CHAIDEER MAHYUDDIN/AFP/Getty ImagesA giant cloud of hot volcanic ash engulfs villages in Karo district during the eruption of Mount Sinabung volcano located in Indonesia's Sumatra island on Feb. 1, 2014.

AP PhotoMount Sinabung releases pyroclastic flows during an eruption as seen from Namantaran, North Sumatra, Indonesia, Saturday, Feb. 1, 2014.

SUTANTA ADITYA/AFP/Getty ImagesResidents run away to escape from hot volcanic ash clouds engulfing villages in Karo district during the eruption of Mount Sinabung volcano located in Indonesia's Sumatra island on Feb. 1, 2014.

SUTANTA ADITYA/AFP/Getty ImagesA resident runs away to escape from hot volcanic ash clouds engulfing villages in Karo district during the eruption of Mount Sinabung volcano located in Indonesia's Sumatra island on February 1, 2014.

SUTANTA ADITYA/AFP/Getty ImagesThe body of a victim is covered with volcanic ash at a village in Karo district following eruptions of Mount Sinabung volcano, seen in the background, located in Indonesia's Sumatra island on February 1, 2014.

SUTANTA ADITYA/AFP/Getty ImagesA giant cloud of hot volcanic ash clouds engulfs villages in Karo district during the eruption of Mount Sinabung volcano located in Indonesia's Sumatra island on February 1, 2014.

SUTANTA ADITYA/AFP/Getty ImagesAn Indonesian man wearing a mask stands against Sinabung volcano while it spews thick smoke and hot ash in Karo on January 16, 2014. More than 25,000 people have fled their homes following a series of eruptions and lava flows from Sinabung volcano in North Sumatra, an official said on January 12.

SUTANTA ADITYA/AFP/Getty ImagesIn this night time long-exposure photograph taken on January 27, 2014 from Karo district, molten lava flow downs from the crater of Mount Sinabung volcano during an eruption.

Ulet Ifansasti / Getty ImagesMount Sinabung spewing pyroclastic smoke is seen from Tigapancur village on November 25, 2013 in Karo district, North Sumatra, Indonesia.

SUTANTA ADITYA/AFP/Getty ImagesIn this photograph taken on Jan. 26, 2014, wind spouts appear over the volcanic ash covered landscape in Berastepu village, in the district of Karo near the Mount Sinabung volcano.

AP Photo/Binsar Bakkara, FileMount Sinabung spews lava and gas during an eruption as seen from Jeraya, North Sumatra, Indonesia, early Monday, Jan. 20, 2014.

MOUNT SINABUNG, Indonesia — An Indonesian volcano that has been rumbling for months unleashed a major eruption Saturday, killing 14 people just a day after authorities allowed thousands of villagers who had been evacuated to return to its slopes, saying that activity was decreasing, officials said.

Among the dead on Mount Sinabung were a local television journalist and four high-school students and their teacher who were visiting the mountain to see the eruptions up close, said National Disaster Mitigation Agency spokesman Sutopo Purwo Nugroho. At least three other people were injured, and authorities feared the death toll would rise.

Sinabung in western Sumatra has been erupting for four months, sending lava and searing gas and rocks rolling down its southern slopes. Authorities had evacuated more than 30,000 people, housing them in cramped tents, schools and public buildings. Many have been desperate to return to check on homes and farms, presenting a dilemma for the government.

SUTANTA ADITYA/AFP/Getty ImagesIn this night time long-exposure photograph taken on January 27, 2014 from Karo district, molten lava flow downs from the crater of Mount Sinabung volcano during an eruption.

On Friday, authorities allowed nearly 14,000 people living outside a five-kilometre danger zone to return home after volcanic activity decreased. Others living close to the peak have been returning to their homes over the past four months despite the dangers.

On Saturday, a series of huge blasts and eruptions thundered from the 2,600-meter-high volcano, sending lava and pyroclastic flows up to 4.5 kilometres (2.8 miles) away, Nugroho said. Television footage showed villages, farms and trees around the volcano covered in thick grey ash.

Following the eruption, all those who had been allowed to return home Friday were ordered back into evacuation centres.

“The death toll is likely to rise as many people are reported still missing and the darkness hampered our rescue efforts,” said Lt. Col. Asep Sukarna, who led the operation to retrieve the charred corpses some three kilometres (two miles) from the volcano’s peak.

SUTANTA ADITYA/AFP/Getty ImagesThe body of a victim is covered with volcanic ash at a village in Karo district following eruptions of Mount Sinabung volcano, seen in the background, located in Indonesia's Sumatra island on February 1, 2014.

Indonesia is prone to seismic upheaval due to its location on the Pacific “Ring of Fire,” an arc of volcanoes and fault lines encircling the Pacific Basin. Mount Sinabung is among about 130 active volcanoes in Indonesia and has sporadically erupted since September.

In 2010, 324 people killed over two months when Indonesia’s most volatile volcano, Mount Merapi, roared into life. As now in Sinabung, authorities struggled to keep people away from the mountain. Scientists monitor Merapi, Sinabung and other Indonesian volcanos nonstop, but predicting their activity with any accuracy is all but impossible.

SUTANTA ADITYA/AFP/Getty ImagesAn Indonesian man wearing a mask stands against Sinabung volcano while it spews thick smoke and hot ash in Karo on January 16, 2014. More than 25,000 people have fled their homes following a series of eruptions and lava flows from Sinabung volcano in North Sumatra, an official said on January 12.

The latest eruptions came just a week after President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono visited displaced villagers in Sinabung and pledged to relocate them away from the mountain. Villagers are attracted to the slopes of volcanoes because the eruptions make for fertile soil.

Sinabung’s last major eruption was in August 2010, when it killed two people. Prior to that it had been quite for four centuries.

SUTANTA ADITYA/AFP/Getty ImagesA giant cloud of hot volcanic ash clouds engulfs villages in Karo district during the eruption of Mount Sinabung volcano located in Indonesia's Sumatra island on February 1, 2014.

The hot molten rock beneath Yellowstone National Park is two-and-a-half times larger than previously estimated, meaning the park’s supervolcano has the potential to erupt with a force about 2,000 times the size of Mount St. Helens, according to a new study.

By measuring seismic waves from earthquakes, scientists were able to map the magma chamber underneath the Yellowstone caldera as 88.5 kilometres long, lead author Jamie Farrell of the University of Utah said Monday.

AP Photo/Kevork Djansezian, FileVisitors to the Yellowstone National Park photograph the Old Faithful geyser as it rockets 100-feet skyward in Wyoming in 1997.

The chamber is 29 kilometres wide and runs at depths from 5 to 14 1/2 kilometres below the earth, he added.

That means there is enough volcanic material below the surface to match the largest of the supervolcano’s three eruptions over the last 2.1 million years, Farrell said.

The largest blast — the volcano’s first — was 2,000 times the size of the 1980 eruption of Mount St. Helens in Washington state. A similar one would spew large amounts of volcanic material in the atmosphere, where it would circle the earth, he said.

“It would be a global event,” Farrell said. “There would be a lot of destruction and a lot of impacts around the globe.”

The last Yellowstone eruption happened 640,000 years ago, according to the U.S. Geological Survey. For years, observers tracking earthquake swarms under Yellowstone have warned the caldera is overdue to erupt.

Farrell dismissed that notion, saying there isn’t enough data to estimate the timing of the next eruption.

We do believe there will be another eruption, we just don’t know when

“We do believe there will be another eruption, we just don’t know when,” he said.

There are enough instruments monitoring the seismic activity of Yellowstone that scientists would likely know well ahead of time if there was unusual activity happening and magma was moving to the surface, Farrell said.

A large earthquake at Yellowstone is much more likely than a volcano eruption, Farrell said.

The 7.5-magnitude Hebgen Lake earthquake killed 28 people there in 1959.

Farrell presented his findings last week to the American Geophysical Union. He said he is submitting it to a scholarly journal for peer review and publication.

Brigham Young University geology professor Eric Christiansen said the study by Farrell and University of Utah Professor Bob Smith is very important to understanding the evolution of large volcanos such as Yellowstone’s.

“It helps us understand the active system,” Christiansen said. “It’s not at the point where we need to worry about an imminent eruption, but every piece of information we have will prepare us for that eventuality.”

MEXICO CITY — At least six U.S. airlines cancelled 47 flights into and out of the Mexico City and Toluca airports Thursday after the Popocatepetl volcano spewed ash, steam and glowing rocks, airport officials said.

Mexico City airport spokesman Jorge Gomez said U.S. Airways, Delta, United, American and Alaska Airlines cancelled the flights as a precaution. But he said the airport otherwise continues to operate normally and that by Thursday afternoon no ash had reached the area, about 70 kilometres northwest from the volcano.

Gomez said that among the routes affected by the cancellations were flights to Houston, Dallas, Denver, Phoenix, Chicago and Los Angeles.

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Authorities registered several tremors Thursday at the 5,450-meter volcano, which has been spraying a fountain of hot rock and ash for the last 24 hours.

Federal civil protection authorities established a 12-kilometre safety radius around the Popocatepetl, which means no one can enter that area. They also are ensuring that no cars transit through the Paseo de Cortes, a mountain pass between the Popocatepetl and Iztaccihuatl volcanoes.

An iconic backdrop to Mexico City’s skyline on clear days, Popocatepetl sits roughly halfway between Mexico City and the city of Puebla.

MANILA, Philippines — One of the Philippines’ most active volcanoes rumbled to life Tuesday, spewing room-sized rocks toward nearly 30 surprised climbers, killing five and injuring others that had to be fetched with rescue helicopters and rope.

The climbers and their Filipino guides had spent the night camping in two groups before setting out at daybreak for the crater of Mayon volcano when the sudden explosion of rocks, ash and plumes of smokes jolted the picturesque mountain, guide Kenneth Jesalva told ABS-CBN TV network by cellphone.

He said rocks “as big as a living room” came raining down, killing and injuring members of his group, some of whom were in critical condition. Jesalva said he rushed back to the base camp at 914 meters to call for help.

Among the dead were three Germans and their Filipino guide, said Albay provincial Gov. Joey Salceda. He said everyone on the mountain had been accounted for at midday, except for a foreigner who was presumed dead.

Eight people were injured, and Salceda said the others were in the process of being brought down the mountain. Ash clouds have cleared over the volcano, which was quiet later in the morning.

“The injured are all foreigners … they cannot walk. If you can imagine, the boulders there are as big as cars. Some of them slid and rolled down. We will rappel the rescue team, and we will rappel them up again,” he said from Legazpi, the provincial capital at the foothill of the mountain.

An Austrian mountaineer and two Spaniards were rescued with small bruises, he said.

Tuesday’s eruption was normal for the restive Mayon, said Renato Solidum, the head of the Philippine Institute of Volcanology and Seismology.

The 2,460-meter (8,070-foot) mountain about 340 kilometers (212 miles) southeast of Manila has erupted about 40 times during the last 400 years.

AP Photo/Nelson SaltingRescuers place Nicas Mabao Jr. on a spine board after surviving a steam-driven explosion of Mayon volcano, one of the Philippines' most active volcanoes, Tuesday, May 7, 2013 in Albay province, about 450 kilometers southeast of Manila, Philippines.

In 2010, thousands of residents moved to temporary shelters when the volcano ejected ash up to 8 kilometers (5 miles) from the crater.

Solidum said no alert was raised after the latest eruption and no evacuation was being planned.

Climbers are not allowed when an alert is up, and the recent calm may have encouraged this week’s trek. However, Solidum said that even with no alert raised, the immediate zone around the volcano is supposed to be a no-go area because of the risk of a sudden eruption.

Salceda said he would enforce a ban on climbers.

Despite the risks, Mayon and its near-perfect cone is a favorite spot for volcano watchers. Most enjoy the occasional nighttime spectacle of the rim lit by flowing lava, viewing from the safety of hotels in Legazpi.

The volcano has a trail to the crater that is walkable though it’s steep and strewn with rocks and debris from past eruptions.

As the new History series “Perfect Storms” shows, Dull has found solid circumstantial evidence that an eruption at El Salvador’s Lake Ilopango volcano was the cause of the so-called Dust Veil of AD 536, when a thick dust and ash cloud over the Northern Hemisphere cooled parts of the Earth and led to millions of deaths.

It’s perhaps a major breakthrough for experts who have long wondered whether the dust veil was a result of a volcanic eruption, a meteorite or a comet that slammed into Earth.

“I hate to say that it’s 100%, but it’s 99% in my mind done [that] Ilopango was the cause of the AD 536 climate cooling that lasted for at least two years, globally, but definitely as much as a decade in terms of cooler temperatures, crop failures across the globe, and a major catastrophe that killed millions of people,” Dull, senior research fellow in the Environmental Science Institute at the University of Texas at Austin, said in a recent interview.

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Perfect Storms, premiering on Monday in Canada, investigates major natural disasters that have changed the course of human history — many from hundreds of years ago that aren’t well known — and presents them through impressive CGI technology and dramatic re-enactments.

In Dull’s episode called “Dark Age Volcano” — airing April 15 — he finds a tree in El Salvador that he believes was living at the time of the eruption of Ilopango, one of the biggest volcanoes in central America, around 1,500 years ago.

After putting it through radiocarbon dating and tree ring analysis, he’s able to date the eruption to a window of sometime between AD 500 and AD 540 and concludes it was most likely the culprit of the AD 536 global climate change that led to famine and disease.

Until Dull’s findings, scientists had only been able to date the eruption to a window of 120 years, sometime between about AD 420 and AD 540 — a range too big to be conclusive that it was behind the AD 536 event.

“We’ve got it narrowed down to just a couple of decades. We’re on the verge of this perfect story to explain this perfect storm event,” said Dull.

“There’s no doubt in my mind, at this point, we’ve identified the cause of the greatest climate cooling anomaly on the globe in the last 2,000 years.”

Dull said his theory is that Ilopango erupted in AD 535, leading to the AD 536 dust veil that led to a global cold period that lasted at least another decade. The eruption had such a major cooling effect on the environment because it was in a tropical region.

So, does his findings have the potential to change history books?

“I think it’ll slowly creep into history books,” said Dull. “But what we know for sure is that the early sixth century was a time of major pivotal change throughout the Northern Hemisphere, throughout the globe, really, in many different societies, and this is one explanation, this climate event.”

As for whether this type of event could happen again, Dull said it’s possible.

“Ilopango having this type of eruption again, it could happen. There have been two massive eruptions before this one, but tens of thousands of years before and neither of those two early eruptions were as large as this one,” he said.

“But there are other volcanoes like Ilopongo that will most certainly erupt at some point in time.”